[jambop]

I have onions which were grown from autumn planted sets . The red onions were a waste of time and clearly knew that it was their second year of growth because they all bolted whereas the yellow onions did not bad with only a few bolting. I am now thinking about harvesting some of the seeds from the flowers to grow next year... but is it worth the effort? None of the two were F1 so one would assume that saved seeds should be OK but it would be good to know if anyone has tried and what the results were.

[Aidy]

I grow a lot of heirloom varieties of veg, never done  onions but I do leeks and they are successful.
I always grow onion from seed and never sets, a lot better.

[jambop]

I normally buy my onions and leeks at the local market. They are very good quality, the price is excellent and the transplants are well on when you get them and you know you will have the plants. I have a good polytunnel and thought that growing some of the onions seeds may be a bit of fun. I think I will save some but not totally rely on them for my crop... at worst green onions during the early summer?

[steven c]

we are trying with Ailsa Craig oinions we always grow these from seed it is harder than sets but more rewarding also I think the only way to grow this type. we planted 6 large onions from our last years crop they have now started to flower being about 4ft tall we will also buy more seed but interesting to see how they compare [Charles Dowding has video of doing this] they are so cheap as seeds we have given away hundreds of seedlings again this year. 

[jambop]

I grow a variety of onion quite local to this area of France known as the Trebons onion. I do not know if they are grown elswhere. Anyway the thing about this onion is that it does not store but can be used throughout its growth cycle and is very sweet so great for salads. The really great thing about it though is if you leave half a dozen in the ground over winter in the spring it grows a bit like a shallot and you get about half a dozen scallions per plant which gives you some great early large spring onions. These will then flower within 8 to 10 weeks if not eaten. I am going to save some of the seeds from those to see if I can get some to germinate and grow next year. It is a great pity these onions do not store at all because they are super sweet decent sized onions, actually not unlike the long red of Florence onion.